33 Tips To Start Your Day

Mornings are underrated. I consider them fundamental for the whole diurnal experience. What you do in the very first moments of your morning will fundamentally and inexorably shape your entire day. Most of the time you spend your mornings by routinely performing some habits, on auto pilot. Hence, your days will routinely unfold towards you, the same way, day after day, on auto pilot.

Consciously inserting your intentions in these very first moments will have a huge effect. Taking charge of those moments it’s like activating some subtle, unconscious triggers which will ultimately determine your whole daily experience, exactly the way you want. Mornings are fundamental. This is why I experimented a lot with my very first moments of the day.

Here are at least 33 tips to start your day, small changes which will transform your days by only spending 5 minutes every morning.

1. Write In Your Journal

I love the morning stillness and the unspoken promise of something ready to start. Mornings are fantastic for journaling. Whenever I do it, I feel like I already consumed several hours from that day and yet I’m only at the very beginning of it. Journaling acts like a mind emptier and out of nowhere I feel energized and ready to go. Not to mention that in the morning I have less inhibitors and my journaling is far more authentic.

2. Enjoy The Morning Silence

And do nothing. Just feel the silence and let it spread over your mind and body. I’m fascinated by all the little noises that are born from that morning silence: from my familiar house noises (wife and daughter waking up, steps, windows, doors) up to the neighborhood noises (car engines, low voices, small buzz). Everything starts in that silence and sometimes I think that if I focus enough on it I could actually predict, or even create all those little noises.

3. Be Grateful For Something 5 Minutes

Point your mind to something you’re really grateful for and stay there. Might be your family, your wealth, your health or just your present moment. Feel grateful for it. There’s nobody between you and that thing, there’s nobody watching or listening. You’re free to feel grateful and happy. And then start your day as usual. It’s only 5 minutes, yet the impact of such a day starter is overwhelming: whenever I’m doing it I feel like walking 2 centimeters above the road for the entire day.

4. Open Windows

Regardless of the current season. If it’s cold outside, even better. Open your bedroom windows, your living room windows, your kitchen windows. Let the fresh air inside, welcome the small buzz of the city waking up, silently watch the last forces of the night walking away. Let yourself be refreshed. The yesterday you is no longer there and the today you is slowly getting in shape. Those open windows will unconsciously allow you to receive change and novelty with much more ease during the day.

5. Throw Away A Useless Object

You’re going to spot it pretty easily if you put your mind to it. It often happens to me to stumble upon unneeded stuff in my house during the early morning. If it’s a chair staying in my way, maybe its place is not in my house. Maybe it’s a piece of paper or a wrecked device. I find joy and a subtle enthusiasm in throwing away things that are only cluttering my space, and doing it first thing in the morning makes it even more powerful.

6. Help Somebody

Write an answer to an old question, do part of a small chore, move an object out of somebody’s way. No need to be huge or visible. Just keep in mind the intention of being helpful immediately to somebody else. During the morning your mind is far more clear and you have access to more energy than usual. Hence, your helping activities will be much more effective if you decide to do them as the first thing after you wake up.

7. Meditate For 5 Minutes

EmptyÂ your mind and isolate from your environment. Focus on your breathe. If there are thoughts coming in your way, acknowledge their presence and then kindly ask them to go away. Meditating in the morning is easier, there are fewer perturbing factors. Even after a good sleep, your mind is still trying to find answers, to solve problems, to fight or resist. Do yourself a simple, yet solid service and pack your morning time with an extra meditation on top.

8. Think How To Help Somebody During The Day

This is different from number 6 in terms of the actual time of the helping act. Now you’re planing how to help somebody during the day, you’re visualizing the context and try to find a specific time in your schedule for this helping act. Again, doesn’t have to be huge, a piece of advice, facilitating something or a small gift. The mere act of planing how to help somebody will change the course of your entire day.

9. Exercise

Like in getting physical. I’m not doing this every single day, but I’m doing it often enough. A part from your brain there’s a body, too. A collection of joints, muscles and bones. And in order to be balanced you have to take care of those too. The good news is that your body has a feedback mechanism for the good things you do to it: it’s called “endorphins”. Every time you start your day with a decent workout, you’ll be blessed with a decent rush of endorphins. Usually, it lasts until evening.

10. Spend 5 Minutes In The Garden

Alternatively, spend some times near your flowers. Or your terrace. Just be outside in the first minutes of the day, trying to breathe the fresh air and feel the vibe of the green life. Clear you mind and open your senses. Let your awaken body to synchronize with this frequency and don’t start the day until you completely immersed in this flow for at least 5 minutes. I seldom run into a fight or even got closer to some aggressive scene when I start my day like this.

11. Forgive Somebody

Let go. Forgive and forget. Morning are very good for that because you have so little inference from the outside world, only your own mind and personal history. Does it really matter that much? Feeling that grudge and anger towards somebody who hurt you? Yes, he hurt you, but it really matter that much? Forgiving somebody as the first thing in the morning makes me want to conquer the world the very next minutes. And it works really well with forgiving yourself too.

12. Think For 5 Minutes At Someone You Love

Again, that person may be your family, someone you loved at some point in your life or someone who just appeared. Keep that person in mind, imagine having a conversation or doing something together. Create an internal representation of a desired bond. Not only it will actually attract that person towards you (somehow) during the day, but what you think in those moments will add up to the relationship in a very mysterious way. It’s like what you think it’s already happening.

13. Read A Poem

Poetry, or any form of art, talks to your irrational mind. Usually, your morning is cluttered with rational thoughts and activities: get up and ready for the job, prepare the kids, get the morning tasks solved. Talking to your irrational mind will break this circuit, but it will do it creatively. For instance, my favorite morning poem is “If”, by Rudyard Kipling. Every time I read it, even if the day is packed with difficult tasks, somehow, I find the energy and right attitude to get over them. Totally irrational.

14. Make Coffee or Tea For Your Partner

I like this whole beverage ritual in the morning, I think it has something to do with deeply buried recollections of religious rituals we humans, as a species, performed during the history. There’s something sacramental about preparing the water, making fire, putting the right amount of tea or coffee. It’s like asking gods for benevolence. Only this time is not about gods, it’s about your partner. Paving your road through today with your partner blessing.

15. Write A Thank You Letter

You don’t have to send it, just write it. When I first experienced this I had a little bit of a shock. I realized I don’t know how to do it. And for whom. That was a sad shock. Not having somebody to say “thank you” in your life can bring in quite a sorrow. So, be sure to start at least one of your mornings with a “thank you” letter. Bring to the light people or events you are thankful for. If you say “thank you” to something first thing in the morning, you’re inviting those specific type of events into your life.

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16. Take A Day Off From Your Job

And use the rest of the day for yourself. Even if you’re self employed, or especially if you’re self employed, take a day off. And start it clean, from the early morning. Those free days are somehow bigger when I decide to have them unexpectedly. If I start my morning with the clear decision to take the day off, something very strange will happen: my businesses will run smoother without me. My blog traffic will spike. It’s like too much work means getting in the way of your own success.

17. Do Some Crafting For 5 Minutes

If you’re a man, fix something, replace a light bulb or use your screwdriver to harden some piece of furniture. If you’re a woman, modify some clothes. (Later update: You can do it the other way around, if you really think this is a sexist approach – read the related comments below. And please, get over it 🙂 it’s just a simple example, I never thought, nor do I will, that because you’re a woman or a man you should do ONLY a certain type of things. Are we cool now?) Just do something with your hands, without any preparation, in the morning silence. In a very surprising way, this morning crafting will unfold some new opportunities. You can find a solution to an old problem or you will solve something for somebody else. It’s like this morning crafting will actually make you craft the rest of your entire day.

18. Learn A New Word In A Foreign Language

Just one word. Every morning, for several weeks. I used to learn some hiragana and katakana only in the morning (and that proved really interesting during my first trip to Japan). It forces your brain to find parallel ways to solve problems and your body to stay focused on a small problem from the very beginning of the day. Again, in a very strange way, learning a new foreign word each morning makes me dream about foreign lands. Which is quite a way to start your day.

19. Imagine Your Morning in a New Country

How your morning will be in New Zealand? Or in Thailand? Or in Austria? If you’ve ever been there, try to remember the smells, the air, the noises. Waking up in a different country every morning might be a fantastic experience (I might do this one day, by the way). If you’ve never been there, just try to imagine your morning there. After spending 5 minutes in a distant country, getting back to your actual day will feel like coming home from a long trip. Which is, partially, true.

20. Go For A Short Walk

Like the first thing in the morning, before even having breakfast. Breathe the air, look at the neighborhood. Watch the morning light and hear the noises. Move around. When you got home, your day will be different. This short walk often acts like setting up the scene for something I want to happen. Walking around alone, before igniting the day, makes me feel like a director inspecting the stage. Everything looks cool, let’s make a great film today.

21. Write A Powerful Goal

Mornings are very good for writing goals. I especially like that time of the day for writing goals because I have very few interference from the outside world. Which makes me much more authentic. I value more the goals written in the morning because I am less influenced. I know for sure that during the morning I don’t have to prove anything to anyone, I’m just me and what I want. Some of my best health decisions are picked up during the morning.

22. Clean Your Desk

Again, this must be done before having breakfast, or before any other domestic task (and this also assumes you work from home, at some point). Put things in order, wipe the dust, prepare your working setup. And then start the day as usual. After having breakfast, interacting with your family or just finishing your morning routine, come back to your office. A shiny, fresh and neat vibration will welcome you. A short sign of appreciation from yourself.

23. Sing a Song

I do this all the time in the shower. And I highly recommend it. Despite what your neighbors may say (or even some of your early riser family members). Singing a song goes hand in hand with reading a poem. Doesn’t matter if you know how to sing. just go ahead and knock some “Let It Be” as loud as you can (“Let It Be” is my favorite shower song, by the way). If you hear me humming some tunes in my beard that’s a good sign I started with a loud song in the shower.

24. Read and Evaluate your Morning Phrase

Do you have a morning phrase? Craft one, it’s easy. Starting a day with a morning phrase it’s like a mental programming exercise for maximizing your potential. It may take even less than 5 minutes and it’s a powerful tool for energy channeling. The trick is to keep it for at least several weeks. But the advantage is that this exercise is very powerful. Wanna setup a millionaire mindset? Or just planning or quitting smoking? Put it in a morning phrase and use it.

25. Delete Some Email

Or some old, unneeded files. That’s the mirror in the virtual world of number 5. Remove the clutter. Get rid of old messages, logs or files. Be in the flow. They say you have to let go the current you in order to become who you really want. I used to be a packer. Making folders and packing and storing everything in my computer. Now I start my mornings every now and then with a refreshing session of file deletion. Making room for what the day may bring in.

26. Watch The Sunrise

Easiest of all and yet so underrated. There’s so much power and simplicity in watching the sunrise, connecting to the light and actually feeling how the Sun will start another day. And you’re there witnessing this cosmic process. Every time I watch the sunrise, being it at my home or in a foreign country, I have a subtle feeling of responsibility. This huge cosmic mechanism is turning around me as my playground: what am I going to do in it today?

27. Read Your Yesterday Journal

If you keep a journal, of course. Look at yesterday from the very first moment of your new day. What do you love about yesterday? What do you don’t like about it? Now you have the chance to change those things. Reading your journal first thing in the morning is a surprising experience. Seeing what you wrote without any noise and with a clear mind will reveal things that you didn’t noticed. Maybe because you didn’t like them?

28. Do A Short Yoga Session

You don’t have to be an expert yogi to start your day with a mild yoga session. I often find myself lighter and more flexible when starting the day with a short suite of Surya Namaskara, or Sun Salutation. It stretches your body and calm your mind. I once did this for more than 6 months, every single morning. It was perhaps the most calm and balanced period of my life. And besides calm and balance, what else do you need when you start your day?

29. Visualize 3 Moments From Yesterday

Keep your eyes closed and try to remember 3 moments from yesterday. It’s not reading about them in your journal, it’s trying to visualize them in your mind. First of all, the very selection of those 3 moments will tell you something about your current state. Are those moments embarrassing or happy? Second, keeping them live in your head will help you find a solution or a sequel to them. It will help you keep yesterday linked to today. Some people call this flow.

30. Visualize 3 Moments From Today

Can be practiced in tandem with the one above, or separately. Visualizing 3 moments from today means actually create those 3 moments. See yourself performing those actions, attending those meetings, saying those words or writing those sentences. It’s early in the morning and nobody is pressuring. You have the freedom to see yourself exactly as you want to be. In my experience, almost any of these “predicted” moments are actually happening during the day.

31. Take A Picture Of Yourself

I started this as a technical challenge a few years ago (trying to automate my Mac PhotoBooth) and proved to be enlightening. Not the actual process of taking a photo of myself each morning, but seeing those photos in a fast moving sequence months after. You can’t fool the camera in the morning. All your problems, joys, frustrations or thrills are so transparent in a photo taken in the first moment of the day. It’s like a message you send to your future self without even knowing the message.

32. Identify One Task To Be Canceled

It must be one. Out of your entire to do list for today there must be one task which can be canceled. Sometimes I wake up with the only thought of identifying my canceled task for the day. I usually chose this approach after a very intense and tiring yesterday. It give me a sense of freedom and flexibility. And most of the time the freed time will make room for something interesting, or at least surprising. It’s like opening your door to the unexpected.

33. Chose A Theme Of The Day

This works in tandem with your personal mission (if you don’t have a personal mission maybe it’s time to find one). Find one red stripe which will go through your entire day. Like making this day “the productivity day”. Or “the observation day”. Or “the money day”. This will be the dominant vibe of your entire day. By setting course in the very first moments of the morning you will maximize your chances to actually create your day on that exact theme. *** Already picked one? Great, now go ahead and pick one way to end your day. 😉

Like I told you, there is also an audio version of this blog post and it’s only $2.99.

Running For My Life - from zero to ultramarathoner

The spooky thing about depression is that it sneaks in. There aren’t really trumpets and loud voices announcing: “Hail, hail, this is depression entering the room, all rise!” Nope. It’s slow, silent, creepy. It doesn’t even look like depression. It starts with small isolation thoughts like: “Maybe I shouldn’t get out today, I just don’t feel like going out”. And then it does the same next day. And then the day after that and so on. And then it starts to whisper louder and louder in your ears: “Why would you go outside, you loser? Didn’t have enough yet? Want more people to make fun of how much of a big, fat loser you are?”

And then you start to breath in guilt and shame, instead of air. Every breathe you take is putting more dark thoughts into your body.

Until you get stuck. You can’t move anymore. At all.If you want to know how I got out of this space, eventually, check out my latest book on Amazon and Kindle.

Great list of things to start your morning. the one that appeals to me most is the Watch the Sunrise one. There is little more beautiful than that 🙂

How about adding 34:
Stay in bed and be lazy all morning. I did that saturday, no worries, absolutely nothing that HAD to be done that day, and just listened to music and laid in bed half awake. Great way to spend a morning 😉
.-= Diggy – Upgradereality.com´s last blog ..Take Advantage of Wasted Time =-.

Hi Dragos,
What a great list! There are several here that I practice – my current favorite being to take some time in the morning as a quiet or meditative time. Lots of new thoughts for me, too, though – to really add to my morning start – and make the day just really start our right!
.-= Lance´s last blog ..Sunday Thought For The Day =-.

Stumble downstairs, make coffee. Have ciggie in the garden while the coffee is brewing. Accidentally spray the roses with weedkiller. Listen to the crows. Drink coffee. Ugg. I think it is probably time to change my routine!!

Great list. I, of course, especially like the journaling. Journaling in the quiet of the morning is one of my favorite things. Over time you can also go back further than yesterday. For instance, read your journal entry from a year ago or five years ago.

Imagining mornings in other countries is never a thought, but imagining where I’d want to time travel in history is a favorite question to ask others. I’ve always wanted to visit 17th century France, for instance.
.-= Ari Herzog´s last blog ..Is the Future Here? =-.

I didn’t go to bed last night, had a big project to finish. It is 7.41 am now, not the best way to start the morning but I am happy that you sent me this list Dragos, I am sure a lot of the things from here will refresh me, clear my head and help me make this day a great one! I think I’ll meditate and write in a journal now:)
.-= Lana – DreamFollowers Blog´s last blog ..Relationships Advice â€“ Other People Are Just Mirror Images Of You =-.

I made a huge breakfast after I ran. Took a longer shower and put on a dress instead of jeans. Cleared my mind of the usual clutter and plan on calling friends to meet up with later on. No work for me today.
.-= Bunnygotblog´s last blog ..12 On Blogging: Katie Clemons, â€œMaking This Homeâ€ =-.

Great tips Dragos! Many of these are things that I make every effort to do, but for whatever reason they are usually pushed off. This serves as a good reminder!
.-= Sean´s last blog ..How to Stay Motivated Without a Boss =-.

I’m trying to inculcate the habit of meditating every morning before starting my day. I believe it will be a great way to build up inner peace and start the day feeling refresh physically and emotionally.

Thanks for the nice words. I think I have this habit from my early childhood. There ar some powerful memories about my mornings when I was a kid and everything has something to do with the morning fresh air…

By all means, NO! It was meant to describe something familiar! Statistically speaking, modifying clothes is more familiar for women than for men, but this doesn’t imply women couldn’t use a screwdrivers. I myself knew a few women who were far more DIY junkies than me 🙂 If it’s making more sense to you, try to replace this with something men/women neutral: try to fix a toy (we all have our child inside of us, don’t we? 🙂 )

thanks for the comment, I never imagined it could be interpreted like this 😀

So many great and wonderful ideas. I am frozen with indecision trying to pick one out or do them all. (Maybe a kinda of rotation.) One thing I like to do is to sit and look out my window. Every morning there might be birds, the weather is always changing, from the first birth of green in the spring to the full green on summer, the colorful leaves falling, and the white beauty of winter.

Glad to see this addressed 🙂 I had the same reaction as Ruth– a little startled by the distinction. It’s probably in part because of where I’m from, and also because of my generation, that we don’t usually divide tasks between the sexes so clearly. 😛

But I really came to say that this is a surprisingly refreshing list! Many things on here I would never have thought to put in practice, including imagining being in a different country. A couple other favorites are straightening the desk first, and reviewing yesterday’s memories. Both of these sound like they would make the day more mindful. Thank you for the post!

I like the list, but it really irks me that you just HAD to put the gender separation in number 17. So just because I’m a woman, I can’t tinker with a screwdriver, and just because I’m a man, I can’t sew a button on my shirt?

What a great way to waste time every morning. Take a day off work and spend it on yourself? How about dont take off work, be productive, and then use that money to go to six flags on the weekend. Not to mention sexist. Women can fix lawnmowers or change lightbulbs too.

Thanks for your contribution 😉 Yeap, being productive is ok, here’s my take on productivity as a trap. As for being “sexist” can you please read again and tell me exactly what you see as sexist here? They say that for a reason, you know: “beauty (and I must add, ugliness) is in the eye of the beholder”.

It doesn’t seem like you meant anything offensive by it, but you’re giving in to a gender stereotype, so even if you don’t mean to and don’t realize it, you are in fact being sexist. You can’t deny that you made a distinction between genders where there didn’t need to be one. The idea you’re trying to promote — to be crafty — didn’t need gender involved to be inspiring.

Is it the worst case of sexism ever? No. It’s just something to keep an eye on.

Other than that, I LOVE this list. I’m going to start trying these straight away.

1. We are different. Fortunately. Men and women are different. Fortunately, again. Pointing those differences is nothing but a fact, a reality check. Pointing those differences with the intent of diminishing one in front of the other, that’s not good. Emphasizing those differences as a support for judging some category against the other is not good. This is sexism. This is segregation, this is racism.

2. Where, exactly, in my post is there an intention to point out that women are weaker than men? Or men are less valuable than women? I pointed out two different types of crafting you CAN chose. There wasn’t any intent, nor any expression following, to create a negative differentiation between the 2 genres.

3. Being so sensitive to this aspect, starting to see “sexism” all over the place is usually a good sign that there is an inner tendency towards it that gets repressed. You see only what you want to see, regardless of the color: good or bad. If you see “sexism” all over the place, even where it doesn’t really exist, then again, with all due respect, honesty and compassion, your preoccupation with it is a little bit overboard. Maybe close to obsession.

Overall, I like this list very much, but it’s a simple truth that the sentences “If youâ€™re a man, fix something, replace a light bulb or use your screwdriver to harden some piece of furniture. If youâ€™re a woman, modify some clothes” are extremely sexist and old-fashioned, something I might expect to read in the 1950s but certainly not today in the 21st century. What you’re strongly implying in the above wording, even if you didn’t realize it, is that women can ONLY do “feminine” things like fixing clothes, and men can ONLY do “masculine” things like fixing furniture. This is not only completely unrealistic and out of touch with today’s society, but the kind of statement that can make a lot of people very angry.

I understand that you don’t intend this to be offensive, but believe me, it is. Unbelievably offensive. I keep hoping that we will get past this tendency to lump all people into absurd and pointless stereotypes, but then I read something like this and it really brings me down. If you don’t want to alienate your readers, I would advise editing number 17 to remove the gender distinction, immediately.

You can argue all you want, playing the “I didn’t MEAN to be sexist!” card and so on, but sometimes in life there are situations where you just need to gracefully admit that you were in the wrong. I think this is one of them.

Well, I think I had enough with that. This the last answer to this topic, if you want to comment more on this specific number 17 situation, prepare to face comment deletion (if you want to know why I’m going to delete your comment if you’re trolling more about this off topic issue, read on. Alternatively, you can read number 11 from this list. So, the last answer to this one:

1. I don’t know how your situation was in the fifties, all I know is that in the fifties in my country people died because they couldn’t speak up. Simple things like saying you’re not satisfied with the government were enough to put you in prison for life. I lived the first 18 years of my life in a communist country. Believe me, I learned to be very careful with what I’m writing or talking about.

2. Everybody (almost) agrees with the fact I didn’t MEAN it. If I didn’t mean it, it isn’t me. It’s you. You are seeing something which doesn’t really exist from my part. There is something in your values system so strong and sensitive that it gets activated by a benign sentence like that. I said it in a metaphorical way before (the beauty is in the eye of the beholder, blah, blah) I now say it out loud: you girls have a problem. I’m not being sexist, but you are obsessed with sexism. This is not good. No obsession is good. Get rid of it.

3. You suggested that I’m alienating my readers. First of all, you put such a weight onto something really small. Out of 33 paragraphs, you’re talking about the 1/3 of 1 paragraph. You make it sound like this is all I wrote about. I didn’t. I wrote about 33 ways to start your morning. If you see sexism here, you’re the one already alienated. And second, I do not write primarily to PLEASE my readers, hence I’m not going to modify something that could allegedly alienate them. If you read my about page you’ll find this paragraph:

But do expect to find controversial, unexpected, unusual or just plain strange interpretations here. I saw over the time that some of my thoughts or mental connections have the tendency to put people in the dazzling state. Dazzling is good, sometimes. It makes your brains working.

I’m writing primarily to help my readers grow. If they want that too, of course. Growing isn’t easy. You have to get rid of limiting beliefs and this is not easy. Once again, there isn’t anything diminishing for both men or women in this post, so I don’t see any problem. If you see one, it’s in your yard. Maybe it’s frustrating and irritating to deal with it, but changing my blog to suit your expectations won’t help you deal with it, on the contrary.

I know that you are most likely going to delete this comment and that’s fine but I’d really like you to at least read it.

I understand that it was not your intention to say something sexist and I don’t believe you were being sexist but that’s where the difficulty comes in relating to gender roles. Most of the time these perceived gender roles come from a subconscious place.

As someone who is aware of the implications of gender roles I am constantly trying to enlighten people that those societal roles are detrimental to sexual equality. As a woman, how am I suppose to feel when I only see laundry detergents, food or cooking products, cleaning supplies, etc. are only adtervised to women? Most people don’t see anything wrong with these ads but it really makes me feel that women’s roles aren’t very different from what they were 60 years ago. And the complacency most people feel towards things like this or your indifference to everyones comments above is aggravating to say the
least.

I might be going on some weird tangent but I honestly think you should have deleted that part from your original post. I was thoroughly enjoying the article until I read that one sentence, I almost couldn’t believe that I read that on something that was written within the last year. And your response to everyone’s concern was even more disappointing. Telling women that we are looking for sexism in any place we can is outrageous, the fact is that gender roles affect you just as much as they do women but generally speaking the effects for men are more positive than negative. I probably didn’t say as much as I’d like to but I hope the gist is there and you absorb it on some genuine level and think twice before you let your subconscious go unsupervised.

Really? That is your response? Wow..so..enlightened. NOT. Stop thinking every little comment is so goddamned ‘sexist’. You know what ends stereotypes? When we stop talking about them, when we stop thinking that every little thing can somehow be made into a sexist comment. I’m a little surprised that people can be this sensitive, especially on the internet! People can say whatever they like, whenever they like. If you don’t like it, well then stick to checking your email and nothing more. Oh by the way, I’m a woman, an incredibly successful and fulfilled woman, and I find nothing wrong with it. Grow up. Here’s an idea, gracefully admit that you need to lighten up and learn how to let things go, maybe work on a little meditation, I believe that was on the list. It may be good for you, you sound like you have some serious issues from the past that you need to work through.

Good list, although in this age of responsible recycling perhaps #5 “Throw Away” could have been worded differently…if that chair doesn’t belong in your house take it to a thrift store where it will find a new owner.

Great post. I loved it. I’m a modern professional woman, and I fix lots of things with a screwdriver, and I wasn’t the least bit offended. We have to, at some point, get over ourselves.
In the morning, I say my affirmations, which a coach just recommended that I laminate and hang in the shower. Brilliant!
I sip coffee with my husband and cuddle with my son before launching into my getting ready routine. I was also taught to make the bed in order to start each day with an accomplishment. This makes it more fun for me rather than just doing it because it looks nice.

Great article. I try and do one or more of those each day, but sometimes just get on the computer, which I shouldn’t do. I like to stretch and do some push-ups or something as well. Get the blood flowing and open things up. I am definitely trying some of those other ideas out though. Cheers!
.-= Casey´s last blog ..Photo of the Week: Walking Through a Dream =-.

[…] 33 Ways to Start Your Day! If I were one for resolutions, I would say this makes a great New Year’s Resolution (Revolution?) – do one thing from the list every morning all year, or for those less ambitious, do everything on the list before the year’s out. I haven’t decided yet if I’m going to do the former or latter, but probably the latter since I forgot this morning to do anything and I’ve already started my day. […]

[…] 11, 2010 · Leave a Comment Remember a couple of days ago when I posted about 33 Ways to Start Your Day? I decided to jump in with the goal to finish the list before my birthday in late May, writing […]

Great list… and I do love lists… I will definitely have to try some of these out like – watching the sunrise or taking five minutes to let myself absorb the sights and sounds of being outside early in the morning…. great great ideas here.

[…] If you want to make a “100 ways of chopping potatoes” list, chances are that you will never get to finish it. The topic is too narrow. Itâ€™s almost impossible to find 100 different ways to chop potatoes. Try to go for wider topics, like carrots (joking of course, now serious), blogging, motivation or inspiration. […]

A first for everything. This is only the 2nd blog post I have ever printed over the last 4 years or more. And using my own printer (which is reserved for special occasions). So good the ideas here are, thank you Dragos, as always!!!!

Honestely i think you need to be more deep with points such as ,,be positive,,think of some one you love,,,thank God each day for some thing good in your life,,,decide that you this day will be a good day no matter what,,,decide to be a better person today !!!

I only discovered your blog tonight, when I was feeling very overwhelmed by everything. I did a google search and this is exactly what I was looking for -will definitely go in my Top Sites.

Thankyou for your amazing posts

One of my morning rituals is to lie in bed for ten minutes or so while I wake up, and just let the things I’m doing that day run through my mind, and how I’m going to approach them.

I read somewhere the best time to ask your subconscious mind an answer to a question that’s troubling you ( ie whether to quit your job or not or something) in the morning, as your mind is unaffected by other influences like tv, internet and people. 🙂

[…] in any category and they will all have great titles. Or, test it out for yourself. Dragos is a great example of someone who knows exactly what the StumbleUpon audience wants — just check out the post […]

[…] in any category and they will all have great titles. Or, test it out for yourself. Dragos is a great example of someone who knows exactly what the StumbleUpon audience wants — just check out the post […]

All of these are so helpful to reduce clutter not only in your living space, but also in your soul, spirit and physical being. Love anything that helps me to simplify my life, as it has been too complicated and frustrating. I enjoy sewing buttons on my brother’s shirt at work, we work in a family business, I enjoy my walks with my dogs at 5 in the morning, I try to repair stuff and usually end up with help from one of the male members in my home. Meditation can be done in so many forms, and alway be thankful and express that thanks outloud when you feel it. You time is so important in such a fast paced ridiculously over teched world. I am old fashioned and a little new fashioned as well. Take the tome to watch a plant grow.

[…] 33 Ways to Start Your Day- lots of good ideas. Some are simple, like open a window ( I like to do this!), others require more thought like Yoga. But, I like #33 best, have a theme for your day. That does not mean “Talk Like a Pirate Day” or anything like that. But maybe try to give lots of compliments that day, or use less energy, or save money. […]

I agree that the rituals you instill for the first hour of the day has a huge impact on how the rest of the day goes. I love starting my day first in silence and gratitude and then move on to exploring something creative. I like your list very much and will try some of these ideas on for size. 🙂

This is a pretty good list, I recently started getting up earlier and I’ve been enjoying a much more productive day overall. Many great points that I plan on trying out.

As for the sexism argument, I would like to say that for a self improvement specialist and aspiring lifestyle coach, you did not handle the argument very well at all. Many of your concerned and offended readers pointed out this legitimate issue to you, not aggressively but with the intention of bringing this issue to your attention, and you responded every time by becoming overly defensive and even blaming YOUR READERS for seeing the obvious sexism in your article.

I am shocked at how you handled this. I would expect from any self-improvement blogger to simply accept their mistake, apologize for any offensive material (whether intentional or not), and be on with it. Tip #1 in “A Better Life In 100 Ways”: Accept your mistakes. Accept that you made a mistake and move on.

And to claim that your concerned readers are simply ‘obsessed with sexism’ for seeing something that is obviously there is just ridiculous.

You may suggest that I am focusing too much on something that is ‘off topic’, but I think it is completely on topic as the way you handled the situation speaks volumes for how you actually apply your own advice in your own life.

Great post! I do some of these things normally but never really thought about it much. I think the realisation of what you naturally do is just as important as doing some of these things for the first time.
Thank you!

[…] find. I adore all the posts, but every time I want to get jazzed about starting my day, I just open 33 Ways To Start Your Day” and get a kick in the pants a smile on my face, and the motivation I […]

thanks for this wonderful list. i just moved to spain for a few months to teach english and have 4 days off during the week which i completely sleep through. honestly, i don’t even HAVE a morning anymore! it’s awful! i don’t know how this habit started but i’m trying to break it. this list was a huge motivator! thanks!

Personally, similar to your number 24, I like starting my day with affirmations. Things like “I meet all the right people in all the right places in all the right right times”& “Only good things happen to me”. Similar to your number 33, these affirmations help me set the theme for the day. Whatever stories we make up about our life, we will find evidence for throughout our day. Therefore, I prefer to write a story I want to live rather then let experience write it for me! Affirmations also create a new relationship between the conscious and subconscious minds.

Btw… I also like your response to Jinx. Understanding that we are the creative force in our lives is not always easy. It means we also have to accept the things we don’t like. Our reactions to the words of others are not feelings that THEY have created within us, they’re the feelings we are CHOOSING in that moment (whether that choice be conscious or subconscious). Think about it, if words caused feelings then wouldn’t we all have the same reactions to words??? But we don’t, now do we? Each emotion derived to any given statement is uniquely our own and therefore for us to control rather than to go victim to innocent statement meant to create positive change!

gimme a break. be me instead. wake up at 5am sharp. nothing better. then run a marathon. a great day starter. then lead the firemen in exersice. they love it. meditate for 1.5 hours then eat some fruit. write a letter to Obama. Its a fantastic way to help run the country. Write a blog tell others the best way to live. This is great. it will build your ego.

anyway, it’s not about my ego here. It’s the other way around. I rarely respond to bitter comments, like this one, but now I did it because I saw something interesting: “to help run the country”. I’m not into running countries. I’m into running myself. The rest can take care of itself pretty good when you’re taking good care of yourself. Think about it.

well, it was okay until I got to the sexist bit. And then you went on to throw in some half-assed comment pretending that it didn’t matter at all. Too bad, it would have been simple to own up to the mistake and move on.

My wife passed this on to me. Interesting ideas about starting your day! I like the yoga session myself to start it off. We all have to sit back and relax in this life. It’s much too short for worry and negativity.

Great list! I particularly like the one about thinking how to help someone during the day. It’s sometimes so easy to get caught up in my own affairs that I often forget that someone out there requires help of some sort. One also feel a sense of purpose when one is able to assist someone else. This builds confidence.

Hey I really like your list and positive attitude. I thought I’d shed some light on why people find the gender distinction troubling. I study gender socialization academically, and the field contends (with the help of research) that gender disrinctions perpetuate gender dichotomies and stereotypes. I have never sewn clothing but I’ve done heaps of changing lightbulbs and woodwork and I’m just your avergae 21 year old. Everyone is an individual and making any gender label is outdated these days. Here’s an example to highlight my point: cleaning products and kid-related products such as cereals are marketed to women and not men. Now that’s unethical marketing as it perpetuates an inequality that really shouldn’t exist, there’s no fair relevant reason why women are burdened with looking afte children, there’s no biological evidence either when scrutinized analytically. Would it be appropriate to say “black people, you go sew a dress, while white people, you go screw a lightbulb” – even if it were statistically true? No, because it’s blind to assume that’s what they WANT to do rather than just something they hav to deal with because of society.

Thank you,sincerely. Ä° am a college resident and find these somewhat utopic cause i have a hard time getting up early in the morning. Ä° don’t know how i can adjust my sleeping pattern but if i can, i’ll definitely try some. Thank you again

If you have to disclaim in #17, why put the first two sentences in there anyway? Why not just say, “fix something” or “modify something”? I don’t understand the need to dig yourself into the ground and then dig yourself out when you could just stay above ground the whole time. Apart from that, it’s a very very good blog.

Just kidding. I’ve been doing some of the stuff here for the last 3 days and I can tell I see an improvement. This blog is a real success in terms of … changing lives of people you don’t know. It’s always awesome to help people that actually WANT that help, cause most of the people got here through search engines probably, by themselves. I feel insanely good when someone shows me gratitude after I help them. You must feel divine when they thank you in every blog post, knowing you’ve done something for them. Admit it!

I’m really thankful that I find this article
It is really a good one
Just wondering if you have ever written an article about moving on in life, if yes where can I find it .
Many thanks from the Middle east

Dear Dragos Rous I am an Indian. I love your every post from my heart. my English is weak but i can easily understand your every posts. In our country a lot of Sadhu(A man that gave us inspiration information and true energy of life) but you are the best in all. I want to meet you but we are a poor farmer. You know that farmer’s life is so boring no anybody like him/her. I thing my dream is very lie dream. that is impossible.
Can i translate your some posts in Hindi language? Starting and end of the every post i gave your website link. In this way you can reach every indian peoples heart and life.
Thanks!